Sustainable system efforts ‘abysmal’

The Peterborough Green Party has not held back in its criticism of the city council. It told the Peterborough Telegraph: “Peterborough City Council’s efforts to deliver a sustainable transport system are abysmal. If you don’t drive, Peterborough is very difficult to get around, yet the council promised us that the opposite would be true. “Buses are expensive and unreliable and actually incentivise people to drive short journeys because it is cheaper and more convenient to do so. “Peterborough has a very long way to go before it can claim to be a ‘pedestrian, public transport and cycle first city’. In fact, the council is currently busy undoing many initiatives that made Peterborough safer, such as suggesting that a series of road crossings is ‘better’ for accessibility than a long established, pedestrian and cyclist-friendly footbridge. “Many of the cycle paths in Peterborough are dangerous, some reduced to as little as a few inches wide (e.g. Dogsthorpe Road, Eastfield Road). Even the Green Wheel, the network of cycle paths intended to separate cyclists from traffic, is untended, unloved and under-utilised.

“The council seeks to make money from, and punish people for, cycling past the Town Hall on Bridge Street yet fails to offer cyclists a reasonable alternative route through the city centre. “Unfortunately, some cyclists now feel safer riding on the pavement, which makes walking much more dangerous for pedestrians.”